We demonstrate the direct generation of broadband wavelength-multiplexed polarization entangled photons from a single monolithic chip. The obtained concurrence of 0.98±0.01, and bandwidth of 95 nm are the highest values reported in any waveguide source, setting new limits for monolithic quantum technologies.
Generating entangled photons from a monolithic chip is a major milestone towards real-life applications of optical quantum information processing including quantum key distribution and quantum computing. Ultrabroadband entangled photons are of particular interest to various applications such as quantum metrology and multi-party entanglement distribution. In this work, we demonstrate the direct generation of broadband wavelength-multiplexed polarization entangled photons from a semiconductor chip for the first time. Without the use of any off-chip compensation or interferometry, entangled photons with a signal-idler separation as large as 95 nm in the telecom band were observed. The highest concurrence of 0.98±0.01 achieved in this work is also the highest, to the best of our knowledge, comparing to all previously demonstrated semiconductor waveguide sources. This work paves the way for fully integrated, ultrabroadband sources of polarization entangled photons.
Generating entangled photons on monolithic chips is a significant progress towards real-life applications of optical quantum information processing such as quantum key distribution and quantum computing. Here we present our recent achievements in generating polarization entangled photons on monolithic III-V semiconductor chips without any off-chip component. We demonstrate the direct generation of broadband polarization entangled photons from a semiconductor chip for the first time with a record degree of entanglement. We also show an alternative approach for polarization entangled photon generation on the same epitaxial structure, which enabled a single chip generating both co-polarized and cross-polarized entangled photons. With recent progress on pump laser integration, our results pave the way for fully integrated entangled photon sources in the foreseeable future.
Quantum networks based on wavelength-multiplexed entanglement enable parallel distribution of quantum correlations, increasing channel capacity for secure communication and distributed quantum information processing. However, broadband integrated sources capable of generating multipartite entanglement beyond photon pairs remain scarce. Here we report on-chip generation of telecom-band four-photon entanglement in a periodically poled thin-film lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI) waveguide. Type-0 spontaneous parametric down-conversion provides a phase-matching bandwidth exceeding 200 nm, enabling spectrally separable generation of multi-photon entanglement across the telecom band. The generated photons are encoded in time bins for robust fiber compatibility, and a coherent interface enabling reversible conversion between time-bin and polarization degrees of freedom allows complete quantum state tomography. We measure two-photon entanglement with a brightness of 6.7 MHz/mW/nm and a fidelity of 0.874±0.002. At a pump power of 0.08 mW, the four-photon state exhibits a fourfold coincidence rate of 1 Hz and a fidelity of 0.74±0.01, representing a threefold improvement over previous integrated platforms. Our results establish LNOI as a scalable platform for broadband multi-photon entanglement and provide a practical route toward dense wavelength-multiplexed quantum networks.
Generating nonclassical states of photons such as polarization-entangled states on a monolithic chip is a crucial step towards practical applications of optical quantum information processing such as quantum computing and quantum key distribution. Here we demonstrate two polarization-entangled photon sources in a single monolithic semiconductor waveguide. The first source is achieved through the concurrent utilization of two spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) processes, namely, type-0 and type-I SPDC processes. The chip can also generate polarization-entangled photons via the type-II SPDC process, enabling the generation of both copolarized- and cross-polarized polarization-entangled photons in the same device. In both cases, polarization entanglement is generated directly on the chip without the use of any off-chip compensation, interferometry, or bandpass filtering. This enables direct, chip-based generation of both Bell states $(|H,H\ensuremath{\rangle}+|V,V\ensuremath{\rangle})/\sqrt{2}$ and $(|H,V\ensuremath{\rangle}+|V,H\ensuremath{\rangle})/\sqrt{2}$ simultaneously utilizing the same pump source. In addition, based on compound semiconductors, this chip can be directly integrated with it own pump laser. This technique ushers an era of self-contained, integrated, electrically pumped, room-temperature polarization-entangled photon sources.